1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a weather strip to be attached along one of an edge of a door opening and a periphery of a door of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The weather strip of this type is generally composed of a base portion to be attached along one of an edge of a door opening and a periphery of a door, and a tubular sealing portion projecting from the base portion to come into contact with an opposing member for effecting a seal.
In some type of motor vehicle, the tubular sealing portion of the weather strip is not formed over the entire length thereof, but formed only in a predetermined portion thereof. In a motor vehicle having frameless doors, the weather strip attached to a flange formed along the door opening has a sealing portion in its lower half portion to come into contact with a periphery of a door panel, but no sealing portion in its upper half portion to come into contact with a periphery of a door glass. In this weather strip, the base portion of its upper half portion acts as a trim covering the flange, and another weather strip for sealing the periphery of the door glass is attached along the trim. In the above described weather strip, ends of the sealing portion are open, and accordingly, the appearance of the weather strip is not fine. In order to solve this problem, the ends of the sealing portion have been pressed thereby closing them. (Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. Sho 63-37365).
FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate an end portion of a tubular sealing portion 12 of a conventional weather strip 1'. A base portion 11 of the weather strip 1' is mounted on a flange 41 of a center pillar 4, and an end of the tubular sealing portion 12 which is located at a position corresponding to a door belt line is pressed into a folded shape thereby obtaining a folded end portion 13.
Due to the pressing work, the widthness of the folded end portion 13 is greater than that of the base portion 11 whereby the appearance of the folded end portion 13 is deteriorated. When the base portion 11 is mounted on the flange 41, the folded end portion 13 undesirably abuts on a panel 42 of the center pillar 4, and accordingly, the base portion 11 cannot be fitted onto the flange 41. In consideration of the above problem, the pressing work has been carried out so that the width of the obtained folded end portion 13 is nearly equal to that of the base portion 11. To this end, notches 15, for example, have been formed in the end portion of the sealing portion 12 in a widthwise opposing relationship as shown in FIG. 10, and then the end portion has been pressed into a folded shape. However, in this method, the sealing portion 12 suddenly changes in both height and width from its unfolded portion to its folded end portion, and a space 5 is formed between the sealing portion 12 and the opposing panel 42 of the center pillar 4 so that the folded end portion 13 is irregular with respect to the unfolded tubular portion, and accordingly, the fine appearance of the weather strip is not maintained.